This invention relates to a stock feed effective in the prevention of scours/loose passage of livestock and the increase of their weight.
Recently, a stock feed has been proposed which contains a saccharide consisting mainly of fructo-oligosaccharides known as a growth stimulator of Lactobacillus bifidus in the human intestines (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 34134/1985).
However, no report has been published to use galacto-oligosaccharides, a class of the oligosacharides contained in the human milk or cow's milk, as an ingredient of stock feed.
In the course of investigation on the activity of galacto-oligosaccharides with the aim toward developing their new applications, the present inventors observed such a possibility that the oral ingestion of galacto-oligosaccharides by livestock caused useful bacteria belonging to the genus Bacillus or the genus Bacteroides, the principal intestinal bacteria of livestock, to increase and the growth of harmful bacteria such as Clostridium Perfringeus (C. Welchii) and Clostridium was thereby prevented. On the basis of such assumptions, a stock feed incorporated with a specific amount of galacto-oligosaccharides was fed to such livestock as calves. As a result, it was found that the scours/loose passage observed frequently in the course of breeding calves was prevented effectively and their weight increased markedly, leading to the completion of the present invention.